Tuesday, June 29, 2010

For my final observation, I observed that the elderly have many problems when they take public transportation such as buses and MRTs.

Firstly, there are some commuters who are lazy or do not care for other older people. So, they pretend to be asleep or busy with something like reading when the see elderly boarding. This causes the elderly to may not be able to find seats, so they will have to stand. If the bus or train suddenly jerks, they will fall and may injure them severely. So, we all have to be more considerate to elderly and give up our seats to them as they are much weaker and easier to fall.

The government should educate the public more and parents should start cultivating that habit in their children too. This will then ensure that the elderly will have a better time travelling in public transportation.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

For my third observation, I observed that my grandparents staying at my home take very long to cook a simple meal. They cannot stay at the stove to stand and cook food there for long periods of time as their legs are much weaker than ours. So, they will take breaks and sit at the sofa when the food is cooking. Sometimes, they forget about it and it ends up overflowing or being burnt. This can be dangerous for elderly who stay alone as if they fall asleep while the food is cooking, something may happen and cause a fire, which will endanger not only themselves but their neighbours too.

For my second observation, I observed elderly around my neighbourhood have problems walking, including my grandparents.

The elderly will have many problems with their body, such as:

- joint problems

- brittle bones

- weak muscles

These problems will affect them a lot as they will move from one place to another much slower, and that will cause them to waste more time. Then, if they walk down stairs, it will be much easier to fall and be seriously injured

Moving around is a very big problem, so there should be more railings and less steep steps at places where elderly go more often.

The four key recommendations of the report were the housing, accessibility, caring, and opportunities for the seniors.

Housing for the seniors means that Singapore will be a place where the elderly can live like a family with others from the community, and there will be houses to meet the needs of the seniors.

Accessibility for the seniors means that Singapore will cater to the needs of the elderly, removing some obstacles that may hinder the seniors from doing their everyday tasks.

Caring for the seniors means that Singapore will make sure that the seniors will have efficient, cheap and accessible care for them, such as healthcare, and will cater to most of their needs.

Opportunities for the seniors means that Singapore will give more opportunities to seniors for them to be with their family more and work with others in the community.

One way the report is recommending to make our public housing more elderly-friendly is to get HDB to provide more rental housing options for seniors, by exploring the lease of its vacant flats to voluntary welfare organisations for the elderly who may prefer to rent than buy, or need to downgrade from their existing flats.

Two ways we can make the quality of elderly care in Singapore affordable are to get the government to top up medisave accounts of the less fortunate, and get them to have a caregiver centre families in care-giving through provision of information resources and programmes.

Three things I can do as an SST student to help them overcome these elderly challenges are by donating some money to help them, help out at old folk’s homes sometimes, and maybe try to get some people to volunteer there.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

I have observed that most of the elderly have problems going up and down the steps when they go to markets for grocery shopping or having meals. Some of them bring their own shopping carts withthem to carry groceries, so it is more difficult for them to go down the stairs. Then, the steps may pose a hazard as the elderly may fall down due to their weaker legs. There are stairs in my house, and my grandparents have trouble walking up and down the stairs.

I would suggest that these places have more ramps instead of stairs to facilitate the movement of the elderly, so they will have an easier time.

It would also be good if the future markets have escalators built in them so that the elderly will not have to walk, just like in this market.